Ranheim Family Update

It is hard to believe that we have almost had Kate home with us for three years!!  She continues to be our spunky and determined little girl that has developed the best sense of humor and sweet personality! She has learned so much in three years that it makes my head hurt just thinking about it!  She can now read fluently (she loves Junie B. Jones), she writes stories all the time, her math is coming along (a little behind but we are working on it), and she has found many sports she loves!  Her physical abilities have been amazing- her balance is 500% better than it was when we met her- she can now walk and run everywhere (and gallop if she wants to be especially fast).  She wears AFO's on both feet and her muscles ache at times but she doesn't let that stop her.  Her favorite activities are cheerleading, gymnastics, baseball, and singing.  When she grows up she wants to either be a "gymnasticker" or a singer.  Her biggest growth has been her emotional age- she truly is a typical seven year old.  Looking back I can say she was closer to a two year old when describing her emotional and physical age three years ago.

Our family is doing great!  Brennan has turned into a wonderful big brother and can even babysit for short periods of time.  Of course he still enjoys fishing and even if he won't readily admit it, he is loving sixth grade! It's so nice to see him becoming so responsible about school work and outgoing with his friends.  He is hoping to get into football in the fall but for now enjoys playing Minecraft, Skyping his friends, and taking drum lessons.

I finally got my master's degree in elementary education.  I started a year long online program and completed ten classes in a year's time  It was time consuming but the classes were relevant and interesting for the most part.  Now that I have finished I wonder how I found the time to do the 25-30 hours of class work each week!  I continue to teach second grade and love it!

Dave spends almost every free moment he has with the family.  He'll tell you that the highlight of his week is going to watch Kate's Miracle League Baseball Games.  Of course he spends countless hours fishing with Brennan as well.  His work has been busy and he is excited to begin coaching a Midget A's Hockey Team in the fall.  Kate is truly his little princess and watching them together makes my heart melt!  My dreams have truly come true!

The other day I was driving in my car and both kids were buckled in the backseat talking about school.  It was an ordinary moment but I paused and had to thank God for all of my blessings!  I am so lucky to have two very special and amazing children and to see our family grow closer together because of them!

I forgot to mention that we also got a new dog!  Toby joined our family about 18 months ago (when he was a year old).  He is a Maltipoo and is great company for Zamboni who is now seventeen years old.  Toby is the sweetest guy around and is finally learning some manners!

Life is good!!  I'll post pictures soon and will hopefully update a little more often now that my graduate classes are done!

Christmas is in the air!

Breakfast with Santa at our church.

Kate loves Santa! 

Kate was a sheep for the
church Christmas
Performace. She looked so cute!

Michah helped Kate maneuver
the steps during the performance
at church and now Kate LOVES
her!

Brennan made this for his
teachers and wanted to
wrap it up for them.  So sweet!
He's such a happy kid this year at
school!  Thanks Barb and Jenn!



Brennan put the Santa Collection out
this year... I quietly distributed them a
little more around the house... they were
displayed three deep.  So funny!



Brennan and Kate
totally decorated the tree by themselves
and did a great job! 



We put lights in the kids' room too. 
Kate arranged all the fish on the
top bunk for Brennan.

Kate and Brennan set up our village too.  Brennan
made the pond for the village and added cars to the scene.
He is so creative!



Kate was excited to make some more ornaments
for our tree at the Advent Workshop at our church.
 

Busy Days

Kate had a winter choir performance at
her school.  I think this was her biggest
audience yet!  She LOVED it!

I went to kiss the kids goodnight
after a date night and noticed that
Kate had a mustache an beard...
then I looked at Brennan and
he had one too.  True siblings!

Brennan enjoys golf lessons
with five of his friends.
They've been taking lessons
together since third grade.

Kate is excited to be part of the
big kids choir at church this year.
She LOVES performing and singing!

Fishing always keeps us busy!

Brennan had to do a president
report and chose to research
Chester Arthur because he
found out that Chester also liked
fishing.  He did a great job researching,
writing, and presenting his report!

Our favorite fishing spot.

Kate had a Steam Expo
(Science Night) at her school
which included another
performance of songs
and sharing of projects.
It was very cute!



Kate sharing her project with her friend Angelina.



And even Kate enjoys fishing.

Physical therapy once a week
always keeps us busy.  Here
Brent is fitting her for her
third set of AFO's.  She's
always a good sport!

Toby and Zammy are good friends
and we even caught them sharing a
bed!

Our sweet Toby is all puppy!
He definitely keeps us busy!



Church activities always
keep us busy too!  We
love our church!



Cheerleading practice is
probably Kate's favorite
activity each week!  She's
on a special needs team in
Wake Forest.  It is the cutest
program!

We think Kate may grow up and
be a physical therapist!
Here she taped her own feet
just like Ms. Caitlin does at PT. 
So cute!

School activites keep us busy too.
Our school did a great Stop
Hunger Now Event.  Here's
Brennan helping his kindergarten
buddy during the packaging event.

Our sweet cheerleader!

Stop Hunger Now Event at The Raleigh School



The new library and study room

My church sponsors a Great Minds
Program for kids that live in a housing development
near our church. This year we helped
'them organize and set up a community
room complete with a library and
furniture.  There are activities at our church
and a few of us started a tutoring program
that meets each Tuesday evening.  It has always
been a great program but I especially love the
tutoring this year!
 

We always have to celebrate my dad's life by going to
his favorite restaurant, Golden Corral, on November 20th.
It's hard to believe that he's been in heaven for 10 years already!

Surprise Party

 

Brennan hadn't had a birthday party for several years because he could never decide what kind of party he wanted. This year we decided to throw him a surprise party at the newly opened Buffaloe Road Aquatic Center. His friend, Lyon, turned ten a few weeks after Brennan and so my friend and I made some plans to surprise both boys. We invited their fifth grade class and told Brennan that the surpise party was for Lyon and we told Lyon that the surprise party was for Brennan. They were both surprised!
Even my sister  flew into town to help with the big celebration and   seventeen kids came to swim and splash with the birthday boys. It was so much fun!